Road to Average part 4 - did she make it?
This is the fourth and probably last part in this series, at least for a while. Continue to read if you wanna know why this might be my last part ever or in a while.
Previous parts
In the last part I wrote that this part would contain updates on how it is going and if I have gained a Premier rating yet. It will not be that piece, because I have postponed it for too long. And for reasons I will state underneath the experiment is now over. And this piece will cover why and the result.
Background
If you read the previous parts you know I went into this exploring if I could become better at Counter Strike by analyzing my own performance. The data I have been using comes from the Swedish service Leetify. Read previous parts for more details about the metrics I have been tracking.
The Hypothesis from the beginning was “how long will it take me to become average”. And what I meant by that is how long would it take for me to reach average in the three categories “aim”, "positioning" and “utility usage” for my skill group based on CS premier rating system. A competitive system where you earn or loose rating based on matches won and lost.
Implications
No experiment without implications am I right? every implication was due to my lack of knowledge as well as lack of discipline. But was it a waste of time? well let’s find out…
Problem number 1 - rating does not represent how good of a player you are
When I started this I compared myself with the lowest rated Premier CS players. Premier being a competitive mode in CS. So I was comparing myself with CS players with a rating from 1000 - 4,999. The problem with that is that it doesn't necessarily represent your skill in CS. You can be a player who always plays by yourself and is matched with morons.
CS is a team game, everything is dependent on communication and team play. You can be a highly skilled player but have lost a lot of games and then be down in the gutter due to lousy team mates. So that’s that.
Problem number 2 - trying to reach a goal that is moving
I asked “how long would it take to reach average for my skill group”, how utterly fridging stupid that is, when my skill group changes all the time. Progress is not a straight line upwards, sometimes you lose and sometimes you have a winning strike.
Let me explain, as you know, when I started this I didn’t even have a rating, to get a rating you need to win 10 matches then you can start playing rated Premier matches. So that took a while, but when I got a rating, I got the same rating as my team-mates, because we win and loose together even though they are much more skilled than me. Much higher than I deserved. That is what I mean that the rating does not represent how good you are as a player. I rated in at 8000, and the spider chart I had said I would compare myself with was 1000 - 4,999.
During the summer I played a lot on my own, and had to solo-que. I got matched with random people who sometimes were nice and sometimes less nice to play with. So over the summer I lost a lot of games and my rating fell down to almost 3000 in one month. Suddenly I was down to the rating which I first set out to compare myself with.
And that is how it is, you lose some, you win some. But for the experiment, and the hypothesis being “how long will it take for me to reach average for my skill group” without defining which skill group is just plain stupid. And defining a much lower skill group than the one displayed also doesn’t feel correct.
Problem number 3 - being a lazy person
I started out by trying to define how I would train to become better and that I would follow the statistics from the service. The things I would perform lousy in I would focus on while training. And in the beginning I did, especially aim, and some map knowledge and some line up for nades and such. Then gradually I just quit that. It was too bloody boring. I also realized, that if I set out to become better I needed to gain game sense and that comes from playing matches. So my progress became a bit to uncontrolled when I didn’t follow a strict plan. Like so often, being lazy stood in the way of excellence. Who would have thought.
Conclusion of problem
With this said, the hypothesis was stupid and impossible to work with. I’m lazy and progress is not linear. With all of that, I can’t validate or deny the hypothesis. But I can show you where I’m at now, and give you some more soft conclusions what I have learnt over this period of time.
Current statistics and performance
Ok so let’s compare and see if I have improved. We need to compare with the skill group I thought I was at while starting this experiment. Good to know is that I started in late May, by then I had played 400 hours, now I have played over 600 hours. So this “maybe” progress was made in 200 hours, which means an average of 1,4 hours a day. And to add to all of this, almost 100% of all matches played are played efter 7pm. I played very few matches during daytime.
To the left original performance chart. To the right current Performance radar chart. As you can see, I have become better throughout all the categories, especially aim which is also the one thing I have trained the most. At some point I was also hitting the target for Positioning. It has fluctuated a lot over this period of time.
I’m still poor and highly uneven but I’m actually less poor than before. And the data now is much more reliable due to the sample size (number of matches played). The image to the left is where I am at now, -7.28 not impressive but still less poor than -8.59 (image to the right my performance earlier).
And through all the other metrics that were baseline for me from the beginning I have improved. Such as
Enemy spotted
Accuracy all shots
Spray accuracy which is the one I have increased the most in, going from 12% to 32%
Counter strafing is the same (it was good from the beginning, but I also think I move around a lot more now)
Crosshair placement
Conclusion
So after 200 hours, I have become slightly better, based on the stats, not massively better, but on the other hand I have not kept to the exercise program I set out to do. So what did I expect? But this is as far as I got by showing up, playing matches and having fun. Sometimes not so fun.
So what are the real learnings?
Being part of a team is more than getting the most kills
As I stated in the first piece, I do not come from a background where gaming were a natural part, nor do I come from a background doing team sports. Neither am I especially competitive, I don’t have the capacity to switch on a competitive mode. So the first learning is that “scoring a goal is not everything that counts”. Which in this case means, it is more important to understand your role in the team than getting the most kills.
One thing I actually have improved a lot in, and where I’m quite good is trading. Trading is when someone dies in the team and you step out and kill the opponent, like chess you know. Never lose one if you can’t pick one back. And I’m actually really good at trying to trade every time I get an opportunity, and I have had a fair amount of success with it as well. And that is a big part of understanding the game, without obsessing with the number of frags.
Self Esteem can take you far
In the beginning I was terrified to solo queue, and I was so nervous to let my team down so I didn’t dare to take any decisions on my own, or dare to take command when needed. I still rather see someone with more experience do it, but I dare to do more things on my own now. And I do actually play better when I dare to step out of my comfort zone. We often say things like “Intel rather than Instructions”. Because getting instructions from your teammates does not make you a better player, but learning on how to act on intel does. Some real world knowledge right there.
Training based on statistics
I found it hard to act upon my performance statistics. I could see I was bad at using utility in the beginning, and even though Leetify gave me suggestions on how to improve as well as provide training servers to do so, I still could not get it done. Even though I might not have consciously acted upon the areas where I scored worse in, I think I might unconsciously have act upon them.
But did I become better because I had access to the data? No, and that also relates so well to when I work with data out in different organizations.
“ You don’t become smarter or perform better just because you have access to the data. You become better when you understand how to change what is not working for you. ”
But one thing I cannot leave out is that Leetify has been important for other reasons. And that is debriefing with the team. We like to go into together to analyze the games, we reflect on how we performed. We absolutely do not act upon it, god forbid is to improve. But it is something with just having numbers in front of you. Having some fun with it. The 2d movement map is really interesting, where you can watch how you move in relation to the opponents (watch the movies below for examples).
Somethings I do miss in the service is
Export data in raw format
Power user functionality such as more freely choosing metrics to compare to each other over custom periods of time. Both on team level as well as on an individual level. For example see if decreased time to damage has any impact on ADR over time. Now I see these metrics for every match, but not my progress within every metric over time.
For clubs, be able to create custom dashboards and reports. And look more in detail what made us successful and not.
The data is most definitely there, it is about being able to make the most out of it.
Having fun
I’m having fun while playing, I haven’t always had fun while playing CS. In the beginning it was more related to fear than joy. I think it took me 500 hours before I actually really started to enjoy it, and started to suggest playing. Not playing for the sake of the experiment or just because someone else wanted me to join.
Have I reached a plateau in my progress? Yes, I have based on the statistics. I don’t progress that much anymore based on numbers. But my game sense is becoming better, I understand the finances better, I understand how I can support teammates better, I die less, I understand which weapons to use when, I use nades so much more, my movement has changed and I can laugh when I make a fool out of myself. These things that might not show in the statistics. But things which make me feel so much more joy in playing the game. And maybe I don’t need more than that.
Things I will be working on for progression though, I'‘m scared shitless picking up a Sniper Rifle like everybody’s favorite the AWP. I just can’t handle it, it is just too much power for this little body to handle.
I need to learn grenade phsyics better, i throw a lot of junk with ok success, but I take too much risks doing it. And I never use flashes, I really need to start doing that.
I always choke under pressure, the number of clutches I have lost is countless, it has gone so far that if I know I’m left alone even if it’s 1v1, I basically become a fainting goat and just surrender.
When something is obviously not working, I need to understand when to stop doing the same thing. I need to be able to solve things on the spot, rather than act upon historical effects.
Thank you for following my journey into becoming absolutely nothing. Until next time…
Some moving images
Some moving images, compilations of weird tactis and one failure.
These kind of strategies that works 1% of the times, but when it does oh lala
Another kind of strategy that rarely works, but when it does it confuses the hell out of the other team and you might get comments like “This is the most fucked up tactis I have ever seen actually work“
“The most fucked up tactis I have ever seen work”
He did walk into my bullet, the evidence is clear.
Let’s upload this again, do you remember when I had no idea when to buy… a walk down memory lane.
